Cathun broke out of his own reveries and listened with tilted ears as name after name was dropped. He lamented the unnamed friend - who somehow now felt like his friend too, even though he'd never met them - but focused on those stilled assumed living, sparing only a sympathetic and grateful nod at the offered condolences. Scraping an absent minded hoof over the glittering surface of the snow he mulled, searching his memory for names, faces, traces of anything at all that might be useful. Eventually he looked up at the roan, a puzzled frown twisting the features.

"Rikyn or Adelric I don't know, I'm sorry. But Aithniel... Somehow it feels like I've heard that name before. I can't say for sure, but... I might know where she could be, maybe." He was very hesitant because there was nothing concrete to this ghost of a memory, but whenever he thought of the name there was this flash of recognition within him, a vision o red sand and a feeling of muscles burning in the struggle to keep up with an instructor's harsh voice. Hadn't it been during training? They'd never been introduced, never exchanged words, but by rights Cathun ought to have met the person at least in passing if they really were part of the same herd.... Not that it was a certainty.

But hey, it might be better than nothing.

Now, there was another reason why he hesitated. If he revealed where the lost friend might be, he would have to take this fellow there, wouldn't he? Cathun had been gone from the Throat for almost the span of a season now and with every passing day he got in more and more trouble. The life as a rogue, while harsh and difficult, had its charms and they far outweighed the scolding he knew awaited if he returned. At the same time he missed Amaris....

Glowing furnaces lingered thoughtfully on the young stag, trailed from the colt to the fox and back. He could refuse to say anything more... but was it really alright for him to hold back on such information. He'd already said too much to pretend he knew nothing. Besides, despite all the things he had told Ranjiri, the grullo wasn't completely indifferent to the pains of others. He cared more than he wanted to admit, and if easing this kid's loneliness was something he could do then wasn't that enough to make up for the troublesome pain in the ass of getting back into the graces of his superiors?

"Say, what's your name?" he asked slowly, hoping to stall for time while he quietly fought to make up his own mind.

@[Erebos]

Cathun

The firebrand